Participants in the Fitness Magazine Mind, Body and Soul Games stopped by the Georgia Pecan booth for a quick and healthy snack. Pecans are loaded with antioxidants and healthy monounsaturated fats which help reduce inflammation making pecans a perfect post-recovery food. Pecans also contain the plant chemical beta-sitosterol which helps lower cholesterol and may help keep prostate glands’ healthy.

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Two new studies provide further evidence that herbs and spices such as ginger and peppers can be beneficial for improving digestion and reducing pain.

A study in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, found that black and red pepper contain the bioactive compounds piperine and capsaicin (found in black and red pepper, respectively) which favorably impact gastrointestinal health by reducing inflammation in the digestive tract. Researchers fed the spices to rats at levels comparable to what is normally consumed in the Indian diet. After eight weeks, the spices significantly increased antioxidant activity in the digestive tract which reduced oxidative stress and inflammation.

Another study featured in the Journal of Pain found that ginger may reduce muscle pain caused by rigorous exercise. Researchers gave human subjects 2 grams of raw or heat-treated ginger supplements for 11 consecutive days. On day eight, subjects lifted heavy weights to produce sore arm muscles. Those groups consuming ginger experienced a 20 percent reduction in pain after weight training compared to those groups that didn’t.